


universal principles (don’t fur-get the cat)

by WishingTree



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, there's a cat loose in the tardis, this is a puff of nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 23:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16901577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/WishingTree
Summary: Early that morning, Yaz woke up to a face full of fur.Although she would have expected that to be uncomfortable, it was soft fur, and actually smelled fairly nice. The cat was small and warm and seemed completely docile, so Yaz really didn’t feel like she had to worry too much about that either.In fact, there was only one thing that she was slightly worried about, and that was the fact that she didn’t actually own a cat.





	universal principles (don’t fur-get the cat)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the lovely [aceisgay](http://aceisgay.tumblr.com/) for the prompt!!

Early that morning, Yaz woke up to a face full of fur. 

Although she would have expected that to be uncomfortable, it was soft fur, and actually smelled fairly nice, so she wasn’t worried. It was also attached to a cat, but she was sleeping peacefully on top of her, curled up with her head tucked under Yaz’s chin, and Yaz wrinkled her nose at the tickle.

She was in bed, the sounds of the TARDIS thrumming around her, so she was definitely still in her room on the ship. There was no screaming, or blaring alarms, or anything else to suggest they were in imminent danger either from some outside source or by the Doctor’s accidental doing, so that was fine too. The cat was small and warm and seemed completely docile, so Yaz really didn’t feel like she had to worry too much about that either.

In fact, there was only one thing that she was slightly worried about, and that was the fact that she didn’t actually own a cat. She had never owned a cat, and she’d never heard any other member of Team TARDIS mention a cat either. 

So why was there a cat on her face?

Slowly sitting up, she cradled the cat with gentle hands and pulled it away from her, bringing it into her arms. The cat stirred at the motion but didn’t open her eyes, yawning and swiping a tiny paw at her chin before resettling against her chest, and Yaz resisted the urge to coo.

Something glinted in the light, and taking a closer look, she saw that the cat was wearing a collar with a TARDIS blue name tag, etched with intertwined circles and jingling happily. Yaz recognized it to be Gallifreyan writing, just like on the edges of the main console room, and as she squinted at it Yaz wondered if there had been a TARDIS cat this whole time and she’d just never run into it. It certainly wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, given all the other things she had seen that rested firmly in the realm of impossibility. 

Calm as anything, the cat then began to stir and slowly blinked her eyes open, yawning widely before standing and wriggling her way out of Yaz’s arms. Padding over to the edge of Yaz’s bed, she wriggled once more before dropping down to the floor, and then casually made her way to the door and slipped out, even though Yaz was almost positive she had closed it last night.

When Yaz threw off her blankets and scrambled after her to stick her head out the door, the cat was gone.

 

“Anybody ever seen a cat on board the TARDIS?” Yaz asked when she walked into the main console room later, and the others all looked at her in confusion, Ryan and Graham standing by the console and the Doctor halfway up one of the pillars, gripping on to it with both arms and looking just slightly too gleeful for Yaz’s liking. “Doctor, what the blazes are you doing?” 

“She was up there when we came in,” Ryan stage–whispered, and Graham grimaced at her.

“She’s looking for something, I reckon. Won’t admit that she lost anything, of course, but I know the look of someone searching.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Graham!” the Doctor called down, “I think I’d know if I’d lost something!”

Graham made a noncommittal sound and grinned up at her, and the Doctor huffed at them.

“Anyways, a cat?” the Doctor slid down with absolutely no grace at all, her boots hitting the floor with a light thump as she pinwheeled her arms before catching her balance, “No, I don’t think so. Completely unrelated to that, you lot haven’t seen, oh, an alien running around, have you? Aside from me, of course.” 

“…Should we be looking for an alien running ‘round the TARDIS?” 

There was a pause, and then the Doctor laughed. “‘Course not! Anyways, back to Yaz’s cat,” she dusted off her hands and put them on her hips, tilting her head back to face the ceiling and addressing the ship. “Have you got a cat somewhere down those hallways?” 

The TARDIS responded with a series of beeps and flashing lights, and then the Doctor furrowed her brow and said, “Well that was an absolutely rubbish answer, what am I supposed to do with that?” 

The TARDIS made an offended sound before quieting, and the Doctor shrugged and turned back to them. “She’s not in the mood to help. But the TARDIS has got whole worlds in her, haven’t you darling?” she patted the pillar affectionately and beamed upwards, and Yaz smiled. “I don’t see why she wouldn’t have adopted a cat to wander around if she felt like it.” 

Shrugging, Yaz decided leave it be. After all, if there was a cat in here, how much harm could it do?

 

 

The cat was in her room the next morning. And the one after that. By then, Yaz stopped prodding the TARDIS for an answer and just embraced it with open arms.

 

 

Clothes still smoking from their latest adventure and smelling vaguely of blueberries, Yaz stumbled back into her room for the night and wasn’t at all surprised to see the cat curled up on her pillow. However, what did surprise her when she rounded the bed was that the cat had the Doctor’s coat sleeve held securely between its teeth, hanging the rest of the long coat over the edge and trailing it on the floor.

“Oi, kitty,” Yaz admonished, hurrying over to try and take the coat, but the cat didn’t release it, only staring up at Yaz with innocent eyes. She held fast even as Yaz scooped her up and walked back down the hall, draping the coat over her arm and tugging lightly a couple more times to see if she would open her mouth and let go of it.

“The Doctor must be missing this,” she scolded lightly, “How did you even get it into my room without her noticing? She loves this thing.” 

The cat made a muffled sound in response, flicking one ear and wrapping her tail tighter around herself, and Yaz smoothed a hand down her back.

Just as Yaz stepped foot into the console room, the cat sat up with a little yowl, dropping the coat and jumping out of Yaz’s arms to streak back the way they had come, disappearing from sight. Yaz gaped after her, but then her attention was taken by the blond whirlwind known as the Doctor.

“You’ve found it!” the Doctor exclaimed, and Yaz didn’t have any time to prepare herself before she threw her body forward to tackle Yaz in a hug, wrapping her arms tight around her shoulders.

“I – I – yeah, it was – I – ” Yaz stuttered, unable to concentrate enough to form a proper sentence while the Doctor was pressed against her like that. “It was – I – ”

The Doctor made another delighted sound and pulled away, reaching out with grabby hands for the coat, and when Yaz handed it over she quickly shook it out and slipped it back on, settling it over her shoulders with a sigh before giving Yaz another hug.

“You’re just in time, too,” the Doctor said, pulling back but keeping her hands on Yaz’s shoulders, “We’re drifting past the most amazing five-point nebula right now, fancy a look?” 

“Of course,” Yaz answered, and her heart swelled when the Doctor grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the TARDIS doors, throwing them open with a flourish. The sight before them was breathtaking, all lights and space and stardust, and Yaz didn’t know where she wanted to look first, her eyes darting around between the Doctor and everything else.

The Doctor wordlessly wrapped an arm around Yaz and drew her close, eyes shining in the starlight, and Yaz rested her head on her shoulder, unable to help the smile spreading across her face. 

 

 

The cat had somehow gotten into the stack of tea she kept in her room, resulting in Yaz making a late night visit to the kitchens in search of more, but she instinctively veered off towards another hallway when she heard the distinctive sound of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. 

“Doctor?” she called out in a hushed whisper, sticking her head around the corner.

“Yaz!” the Doctor greeted cheerily, whirling around and hiding her hands behind her back, “Hello, Yaz!”

“Looking for something?” Yaz asked, bemused expression on her face as she stepped forward.

The Doctor scrunched her face up and made a thoroughly unhelpful sound, folding her arms and using the motion to quickly shove her sonic up her sleeve. “Nope! Absolutely not, I know exactly where everything is. Also, might I just say, there are absolutely no aliens lost in here somewhere, don’t mind me.” 

Yaz bit her lip, charmed by the way she gave her head a little shake and huffed a breath to blow some loose hair our of her eyes. “Well, do you fancy a little help looking for nothing, then?”

The Doctor smiled warmly. “Always.”

 

 

“Here, kitty,” Yaz beckoned to the cat where she was hiding under a desk in the library, trying to coax her away from the corner. “Come on out, it’s alright.” The cat refused to listen to her, lying on her stomach and twitching her ears back and forth like she was listening for something, and Yaz exhaled. 

“What you doing?” came the Doctor’s curious voice, and Yaz let out a yelp, smacking her head on the underside of the desk when she jumped. 

“Sorry!” the Doctor exclaimed, reaching out for her when she sat back and rubbed at her head, “You alright? Should’ve made some more noise, sorry. What you doing down there anyways? Looking for those sentient marbles that got loose last week?” She helped Yaz up with gentle hands, leaning to the side as if she could check if there was a bump on her head from there and adding, “‘Cos I can tell you that those are most definitely not in the observatory, and you absolutely should not go check there.” 

“No, I – what?” Yaz was distracted when the Doctor pulled her forwards and poked at her until she turned around, gentle fingers feeling up the back of her skull. She hummed in satisfaction and then pulled away, letting Yaz turn back to face her with slightly redder cheeks than before.

“…Nothing! So what are you doing down there?” The Doctor made to lie down on the floor to get a look for herself, but at that moment the cat darted out to sit at Yaz’s feet, meowing loudly.

“Oh, hello!” the Doctor exclaimed, delighted, “There you are, I was wondering where you’d gotten off to!”

“You – is the cat yours?” Yaz asked dumbly, still rubbing the back of her head, and the Doctor turned to look at her.

“Cat?” she repeated blankly, “What do you mean, cat?” 

Yaz stared at her, and then pointed at the cat. 

“That’s a scaprtthuukorian,” the Doctor scrunched up her face in confusion, “Not a cat. Honestly, Yaz, it doesn’t even look like a cat!”

Yaz glanced down at the scap-ar-something-ian twining around her legs, looking and acting exactly like a cat. “It’s a what?”

“Scaprthuukorian. Very interesting species, I found this one floating about somewhere in the Kendaviar galaxy, bumped right into the TARDIS’ shields while you lot were asleep!” The Doctor softened and took a few steps forward, kneeling down to pet the cat – the scarp-arthurian – on the head. “She didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I took her inside. Then, well, I also lost her inside for a couple days, but you found her, so all’s well!” 

Yaz laughed and kneeled down to join her, scratching the scarport-thuckorion behind the ear. “More like she found me, but alright. Are we keeping her?” 

“I don’t see why not! Until she decides to move on, anyways.” The Doctor scooped up the scrap-thorn-pekorian and hugged her close, “This is Potato Peel, named her myself!” 

“We are not – you can’t name her Potato Peel,” Yaz said, “Even if she is an alien space cat.”

“Says who? I’ve been around for centuries, I think I would know how to pick a suitable name for a scaprtthuukorian.”

“Doctor – ”

“Okay, alright! Fuzzy, then. I’m calling her Fuzzy. How’s that?”

“Better,” Yaz relented, “But – ”

Fuzzy the scapper-temper-korium chose that moment to leap up and bat at Yaz’s leg, and when she had her attention, she turned and did the same thing to the Doctor, latching on to the hanging end of her coat and pulling hard enough that the Doctor stumbled right into Yaz. 

Yaz caught her smoothly, her reflexes kicking in, and the Doctor smiled at her in thanks, expression soon settling on something softer but no less bright.

“Um, Doctor,” Yaz breathed, not knowing what exactly she wanted to say with the Doctor’s face so close to her own, but the Doctor quickly solved that problem when she stilled and then blinked a couple of times, staring at Yaz and then down at their feet, twisting her body back and forth.

“Where did Fuzzy go?”

“I – ”

There came an almighty crash from outside the door followed by the sound of Ryan yelling, and Yaz felt a stab of disappointment even as her concern spiked.

“Do you think he saw – ”

“Yaz? I found your bloody cat! _Yaz_!”

The Doctor grinned, bouncing on her toes. “Guess we’d better go see what he’s on about.”

Yaz sighed but grinned back and followed the Doctor as she bounded out the door. Ryan was standing outside gaping at something, and just as she opened her mouth to ask him what was going on, she froze. Because even though she’d never really doubted her, it appeared the Doctor hadn’t been wrong – Fuzzy really _was_ an alien.

**Author's Note:**

> Who wants to guess what the alien space cat can actually do


End file.
